The Way of St. James ; Couple Make Pilgrimage across Spain to Santiago De Compostela

Leingang, Paul, Evansville Courier & Press (2007-Current)

Editor's Note: Paul and Jane Leingang spent the better part of
two months in Spain in the Fall of 2013. They walked the Way of St.
James, a pilgrimage path to Santiago de Compostela. The Camino is
both a religious and a physical experience.

Jane and I adjusted our backpacks and began our pilgrimage at the
11th century monastery of Roncesvalles in Spain, near the border
with France, on Sept. 6. We attended Mass the night before and
received a blessing. Forty-four days and 500 miles later, we walked
into Santiago.

Along the way we learned what so many spiritual writers and
thinkers have affirmed, a journey is more significant than the
destination. We also learned the foolishness of self-reliance and
the truth that we need God. We started alone, just the two of us
and came to realize we were never alone.

We carried with us everything we needed and found what we really
needed was very little. We walked on paved roads and forest paths,
in mountain terrain and across great flat plains, on old Roman
roadways and alongside new multilane highways, into and through
tiny villages and big cities. We took our daily meals at coffee
bars and restaurants, or along the way from items purchased at
grocery stores. We shared some evening meals in common with other
pilgrims in churches. Many nights we spent in common dormitories,
in clustered bunk beds with other pilgrims from all over the world -
from Spain and Germany, South Africa and Australia, Canada and
Chile, and dozens of other places.

We walked through the historic kingdoms and territories of Spain,
the Basque Country, the provinces of Navarra, La Rioja, Castilla y
Leon, and ultimately arrived in Galicia, a land of Celtic culture
and the location of the "Field of Stars" - the Compostela, where
the body of St. James was said to have been discovered.

The legendary burial site of the Apostle James is beneath the
cathedral, a place of pilgrimage for over a thousand years. We
carried with us a kind of pilgrimage passport, with spaces for
stamps from albergues and cathedrals and other sites along the way.
Our documents also featured a pilgrims' prayer, from the Twelfth
Century Codex Calixtinus, a manuscript attributed to Pope Calixtus
II. The codex may be the first travel guide ever written, with five
volumes devoted to travel advice, prayers, sermons and descriptions
of what to see along the way.

The prayer on our passports begins with a reference to Abraham,
honored by Christians, Jews and Muslims, a man and his family who
were called from the homeland of Ur in Chaldea to cross into the
Promised Land. This pilgrim's prayer reflects a universal request,
asking God to be our companion on the way, our guide at the
crossroads, our shelter on the path, our shade in the heat, our
light in darkness, our comfort in discouragement, for guidance and
safe arrival. It is a prayer appropriate for the life of any
believer.

We walked with many other peregrinos - singles, couples and
groups, many Christians, but not all. For me, as a lifelong
Catholic, the Camino was an experience of our traditional teaching
about the Communion of Saints - the corporate collection and
connection of people, past, present and future, including my
parents who have gone before us into eternity, Jane and me in the
present, and our sons and our grandchildren who will live long
after us.

On the Camino, we met new people every week or two, people who
soon moved before us, in better physical condition, with fewer days
available, or for whatever the reason. After our time together,
they advanced into the future that we would experience some days
later.

It ought to be easy to say why we set out to backpack 500 miles
across northern Spain but it is not that simple. We have traveled
in almost every one of the United States and in many countries of
the world, but never had we become deeply immersed in another
culture. Such a commitment became possible with the time and
freedom of retirement. …

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